The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Knicks’ front-office moves suggest more of the same culture for team
LAS VEGAS » The New York Knicks have been among the dregs of the NBA for virtually this entire century. With five playoff appearances and one series victory in the past 17 years, what is supposed to be one of the league’s flagship franchises has instead flailed from one plan to the next.
Given that track record of success — a lack thereof — Phil Jackson’s departure as team president last month seemingly would’ve represented a chance to find new leadership for the franchise — a chance to jump-start a team that desperately needs new energy and direction.
That’s what made Friday’s announcement of Steve Mills being promoted to team president, along with the hiring of Scott Perry from the Sacramento Kings as the team’s new general manager, all the more confounding. A team in need of a reset has opted instead for more of the same.
“Today marks a culture change for our organization where we re-establish the pride, work ethic and responsibility that comes with playing for the Knicks and representing New York,” Knicks Owner James Dolan said in a statement, presumably without irony.
This isn’t about a lack of qualifications for Perry, a longtime NBA executive who comes with a well-respected track record and who, in just a few months in Sacramento, helped usher in what has widely been hailed as the best offseason the team has had in years. It also isn’t about a lack of qualifications for Mills, who has spent decades working in the sport. Incidentally, it is pretty cool that by hiring Perry, the Knicks now are the only franchise in the NBA with a front office led by an African-American president and general manager. But what this is about is the laughable idea that a culture change is taking place at an organization that refuses to actually change its culture or any of the people involved in creating it.
The Knicks, and, by extension, Madison Square Garden, are staffed with plenty of employees who have been there for a decade or more. It’s one thing if that’s the case at a place like, say, San Antonio, where the Spurs have consistently been among the top teams in all of sports for more than two decades. It’s another thing when it’s in a place such as New York, where the Knicks have routinely been terrible.
And while loyalty and a resistance to pulling a quick trigger are two things to admire in an owner of a sports team — two traits Dolan has, despite all of the deserved grief for the way the Knicks have performed during his tenure — at some point, one would think, a lack of success would lead to a change in direction.
But at Dolan’s Madison Square Garden, it’s simply more of the same. He made a point of saying in his statement that he will “continue to not be involved in the operations of this team,” which allows him to remain out of the media spotlight - which he may crave even more than his team having success.
He was determined to be involved, enough, however, to prevent arguably the best candidate on the market for the job — former Cavaliers general manager David Griffin — from bringing in his own people to New York’s front office. That led to Griffin pulling out of consideration for the job.
When Jackson came to the Knicks, he brought only one trusted adviser, Clarence Gaines, Jr. — who has been with the team during Summer League games in both Orlando and Las Vegas, and seems to be sticking around now that Jackson is gone. Perry, meanwhile, seems to be replacing only Jackson.
This is why the culture change talk in New York is so misguided. If someone isn’t allowed to come in and bring the people they think can best do the job with them, how is the culture ever supposed to change?
The culture might not be changing, but the emphasis on the triangle offense will change; Mills hasn’t wasted any time moving away from what Jackson valued and placing his own stamp on the organization. He offered Tim Hardaway, Jr. — a player he and Jackson initially clashed over before Jackson traded him to Atlanta two years ago — a four-year, $71 million contract the Hawks never considered matching, and one that left the Knicks with no cap space to pursue a veteran point guard after they used their remaining salary cap exception to sign second-year guard Ron Baker.
That should help the Knicks remain competitive in the race to the bottom of the Eastern Conference — something Dolan referenced by citing Mills’ “ambitious plan that centers on building a young team focused on player development, communication and teamwork.” In other words: We’re going to be young and terrible.
Funny thing is, following such a rebuilding plan is something the Knicks have needed to do for the past 15 years - and something they have never bothered to do. Now that they finally have control of all their draft picks moving forward, they have the opportunity to execute that plan.
So, in a way, perhaps this is the beginning of a new era for the Knicks, no matter how much Dolan and the rest of Madison Square Garden aren’t interested in changing anything else.
But a culture change? It’ll take a lot more than bringing in one man — and replacing no one else — to have one of those.